File photo taken on June 27, 2019 shows Senator Kamala Harris of California being interviewed after the second night of the first Democratic primary debate in Miami, Florida, the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

US Democratic vice presidential hopeful Kamala Harris on Wednesday called President Donald Trump's COVID-19 response a historic failure that disqualified him from a second term, in a pointed but mostly civil debate with Mike Pence who sought to portray her as extreme. 

With Trump's weekend hospitalization for COVID-19 throwing a new importance on the role of the vice president, Pence and Harris spoke separated by Plexiglas as a safety precaution 27 days before the election.

Harris, who would be the highest-ranking woman in US history if she enters the White House under a president Joe Biden, immediately attacked Trump's record on COVID-19, which has killed more than 210,000 people in the US, more than in any other country.

"The American people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country," said Harris, a US senator from California and former prosecutor.

"And frankly, this administration has forfeited their right to reelection based on this," Harris said before a masked and limited audience at the University of Utah.

Saying Trump treated front-line health personnel as "sacrificial workers," Harris - pointing to Trump's own statements to journalist Bob Woodward - accused the White House of not moving quickly despite knowing the risks of COVID-19.

"The president said it was a hoax. They minimized the seriousness of it," Harris said.

After a raucous debate eight days ago between Trump and Biden, Pence and Harris took a more civil tone with no name-calling, but sharply disagreed on the reaction to the pandemic.

"I want the American people to know, from the very first day, President Donald Trump has put the health of America first," Pence said, pointing to his ban on travel from China.

Referencing a controversy that tanked Biden's first presidential campaign in 1988, Pence said the Democrats' COVID-19 plan sounds "a little bit like plagiarism, which is

something Joe Biden knows a little bit about."

In contrast to Trump's firehose-like blasts on Biden and his family, Pence demonstrated calm and stability and congratulated Harris on the historic nature of her candidacy. 

Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, would also be both the first African-American and Asian-American vice president.

But Pence tried to portray her as a radical, saying that Harris - generally considered close to the Democratic establishment - was further to the left than socialist Bernie Sanders.

AFP